about the book
Tamaya Dhilwaddi (an anxious fifth grader) and Marshall Walsh (a quiet seventh grader) have been neighbors forever. Each day they walk to and from Woodridge Academy, a private school in Heath Cliff, Pennsylvania. When Chad Hilligas transfers in, he proves to be a nasty bully and Marshall quickly becomes his main target. When Chad threatens Marshall with a beating, Marshall does what he can to evade the blowhard…including taking a short cut through the off-limits woods. Rumors say a dangerous hermit lives there.
Tamaya, unaware of the reason for the detour, reluctantly follows Marshall. It doesn’t take long before the two are lost. To make matters worse, Chad catches up with them! To stop the fight, Tamaya flings strange yellowish-brown mud at Chad’s face.
As the two friends run off, they inadvertently unleash an environmental disaster—microscopic manmade ergonyms that escaped from a nearby research facility. Biolene was created as a “safe”, inexpensive gas booster but when exposed to oxygen, it mutates and grows uncontrollably. It is highly contagious and lethal to most life forms on the planet …and Tamaya and Chad are covered in it!
The kids’ lives are in peril. The countrysides and cities and the people living in them are in peril! City and state authorities get involved, and then the feds step in. At secret senate hearings, experts testify. One witness warns unless the world population is controlled, nothing will help. Biolene’s creator testifies that science can control the ergonyms but simple math challenges his claim.
The toxicity spreads and it spreads fast. An insatiable and greedy hunger for energy sources may lead to a cost that nobody is prepared for. Reader, this is merely fictional, right? Are you sure? Be careful. The next fuzzy mud puddle you encounter may be your last!
about the author
Louis Sachar, a regular boy growing up in East Meadow, New York, and Orange County, California, didn’t read much. In college, he developed an interest in Russian literature and took Russian language courses. Still, he found the books confusing and dropped the classes. At a loss about what to do next, he roamed the campus. When a young girl shoved a flyer into his hand asking for teacher aide volunteers to work at Hillside Elementary School, he signed on. It offered three easy credits, required no homework or tests, and he had nothing better to do!
He fell in love with these kids, and the experience changed his life. He decided to write a book, Sideways Stories from Wayside School, featuring different kids in their supernatural school. He cast himself as “Louis the Yard Teacher” (his actual volunteer job), and named many of the characters in the book after his actual students.
After graduating college, he decided to apply to law school. At the same time, he sent out his Wayside School manuscript to several publishers. Hasting College of Law accepted his application right before a publisher bought his book! He became a lawyer, but when his books began to sell, he quit to write full time. Now he has authored more than 25 books for children and young adults. His book Holes won the 1999 Newbery Medal and became a major motion picture.
Pessimistic thoughts about overpopulation and environmental issues inspired Louis’s novel Fuzzy Mud. His heroine had to like puzzles and logic problems, because there are a lot of them in the book. Louis’s books always start with a tiny idea and with each rewrite, additional ideas change the story. He writes for only two hours each morning and he tries to do the best job he can, no matter how long it takes. Though at times he can’t wait to finish a book, he is always kind of sad when it is done!
Louis lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife Carla and their two dogs Tippy and Lucky. They have one grown daughter, Sherre. Both Carla and Sherre have appeared as characters in his books. Louis loves to ski and is an avid bridge player. He participates in tournaments around the country.
Sources:
Author website #1
Author website #2
Author biography: CliffNotes
Author interview: Scholastic
Author interview: Author Magazine
Book trailer: Fuzzy Mud
Also by Louis Sachar:
The Marvin Redpost series. Random House. 1992-2000.
Holes. Farrar Straus Giroux. 1998.
The Wayside School series. Harper Collins. 1978-1995.
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